PayPal CEO Enrique Lores is pursuing a standalone strategy after the board rejected a proposed $53 billion acquisition by Stripe and Advent International in late August. The offer valued PayPal at $60.50 per share, while market observers indicated directors sought closer to $70. Lores, who has been chief executive for just over six months, plans to overhaul underperforming parts of the business, introduce new features and cut billions of dollars in costs amid intensifying competition in payments. The strategy targets $1.5 billion in annual operational efficiencies, a $6 billion share-buyback program and three specialized business divisions integrating Braintree, Hyperwallet and PayPal Complete Payments. Lores says material results are not expected before 2027, while Wall Street’s response has so far been muted. PayPal shares opened at $53.31 and are down 81% from their five-year high. Second-quarter earnings of $1.38 per share and revenue of $8.68 billion exceeded forecasts. PayPal has also introduced PYUSDx, a development framework linked to its PYUSD stablecoin, with three initial implementations processing more than $100 million in transactions.